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DENVER -- Kyrie Irving and the Cleveland Cavaliers used a balanced offensive attack to close out a successful Western Conference road trip. Irving scored 23 points, Tristan Thompson had 20 points and 10 rebounds and the Cavaliers beat the Denver Nuggets 117-109 on Friday night. Cleveland had five players score in double figures. C.J. Miles added 19 points, including four free throws down the stretch, and Luol Deng scored 18. "Everyone has to be guarded," Irving said. "Its a luxury right now." The Cavaliers finished their five-game trip with a 3-2 record after winning in Denver for the second time in three years. They led most of the way and held off a late rally by the Nuggets that cut a double-digit lead to three early in the fourth quarter. Cleveland went 28 for 35 at the free-throw line, including 12 of 15 in the fourth quarter. "We had each others back because on the road its us against the world," coach Mike Brown said. "We had a lot of guys step up. We were aggressive with 35 free-throw attempts." Wilson Chandler scored 23 points and Ty Lawson had 19 points and 11 assists for the Nuggets, who have dropped two of three. Denver had won its last four home games, but fell to 11-9 at Pepsi Center this season. It had a 38-3 home record last season. "These games should be in the win column," Lawson said. "We just keep letting easy games go. Our last month is tough, weve got to get these games right now." The Nuggets attempted a season-high 37 3-pointers, making 14, but struggled from long range down the stretch. "We were taking what the defence was giving us," Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said. "In the second half we threw up a lot because we were down and we were trying to get back in the game. But I dont think our offence was hurting us - it was defence." After Tyler Zellers free throw made it 94-86 with 9:33 remaining, Evan Fournier hit a floating jump shot in the lane and Nate Robinson made a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to three. It was the closest Denver had been since the second quarter. "We still had the lead. The momentum was in their favour but that happens on the road, especially against a good home team," Irving said. "We had to remain aggressive and thats what we did." The Cavaliers responded with five straight points. Anderson Varejao hit a jumper and free throw and Irving also scored to make it 99-91. Denver made a couple more charges, but each rally fizzled when it got close. Chandler hit two 3-pointers to help the Nuggets get within three at 111-108. Denver had a chance to get within one or tie but an offensive rebound by Irving led to a dunk by Deng with 43.8 seconds left, and Cleveland closed it out from there. "We wanted it and we went out and took it," Irving said. "Couple of mistakes at the end but it didnt rattle us." The Cavaliers led by 14 in the third quarter but Denver made a push to close to 87-80 heading into the fourth. Chandler scored seven points in the period. Irving, Thompson and Miles all had 13 points in the first half for Cleveland, which used an 18-6 run to take a 68-57 lead at the break. Irving scored 10 points in the spurt and Miles hit a corner 3-pointer just before the end of the quarter to push the lead to 11. The Nuggets hit nine 3-pointers in the first 24 minutes to keep it close but allowed the Cavaliers to hit 56.5 per cent from the field in allowing 68 points in the first half for the second time this season. Randy Foye led Denver with 14 points at the break. "That second quarter we gave them 42 points," Foye said. "That just killed us. Every other quarter we held them down. That second quarter killed us." NOTES: Nuggets F Darrell Arthur (left groin strain) missed his third straight game. ... Deng is averaging 18 points since coming to the Cavaliers in a trade with Chicago on Jan. 7. ... Shaw missed shootaround with a sinus infection but was on the sideline for the game. Shayne Gostisbehere Jersey . 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In the last race before the Sochi Olympics, Bjoergen followed up her win in the 10-kilometre classical race on Saturday by beating World Cup sprint leader Denise Herrmann of Germany by 0.43 seconds for her fifth victory of the season.MALABO, Equatorial Guinea - The first Group B match at the African Cup of Nations will be the only game of the opening round with two home-grown coaches.Congo will take on 2012 champion Zambia on Sunday, with Jean Florent Ibenge going up against Honour Janza in the city of Ebebiyin.Janza took over as coach of Zambia last year from Patrice Beaumelle, the long-time assistant of Herve Renard. It was Renard who led Zambia to the continental title three years ago, when the African Cup was co-hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, with Janza as an assistant.(Its) an opportunity for a local coach to show what he has learned in the last five years associated with Herve Renard and company, Zambian football federation president Kalusha Bwalya said soon after the appointment.The only other of the 16 teams at this years African Cup of Nations to have a native coach is South Africa with Ephraim Mashaba. Renard is now coach of Ivory Coast.African teams often employ Europeans as coach, and this years tournament has 11 of them leading squads. The two remaining coaches are Esteban Becker, an Argentine with host Equatorial Guinea, and Avram Grant, the former Chellsea manager from Israel who is leading Ghana.ddddddddddddZambia and Congo are considered to be the outsiders in Group B, with both Cape Verde and Tunisia expected to advance to the quarterfinals.Cape Verde became the smallest nation ever to qualify for the African tournament in 2013, and then went on to the quarterfinals. The team has gotten stronger since, winning four of its six qualifying matches to become the first to guarantee its place at the 2015 tournament.The toughest test for Cape Verde should come in the first match against Tunisia, a team unbeaten in qualifying but missing two injured forwards, Fakhreddine Ben Youssef and Saber Khalifa.But the other issue facing all four teams in Group B is the venue. Ebebiyin is located in the northeastern corner of Equatorial Guinea, on the border with Gabon and Cameroon. It is one of the two host cities that is untested, the other being Mongomo.Both Malabo, the capital, and Bata, the countrys biggest city, were used as venues during the co-hosted 2012 tournament. But Equatorial Guinea stepped in at late notice to host this years event after Morocco was stripped of hosting rights. ' ' '